Firing mechanism for automatic firearms



Dec. 30, 1930. E. HOLEK I FIRING MECHANISM FOR AUTOMATIC FIREARMS FiledJune 18. 1929 5 Sheets-Sheet l Fig. 1

IIIIIIIIII[IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIlIl/IIIIIIII '0 Emanuel HoleK lNVENTORATTORNEY Dec. 30, 1930. HOLEK 1,786,536

FIRING MECHANISM FOR AUTOMATIC FIREARMS Filed June 18, 1929 3Sheets-Sheet 2 Em anucl Hohz K NVENTOR WWW 9W ATTORNEY Dec. 30, 1930.

E. HOLEK FIRING MECHANISM FOR AUTOMATIC FIREARMS Filed June 18, 1929 5Sheets-Sheet 3 NVEN.TOR

QU'W ATTORNEY Patented a... so, ieeo mans PATENT OFFEQE mam s; norm onBBUNN, CZECHOSLOVAKIA, Assumes 'ro rrm'rmm cEsxostovnnsm znnoaovmaxcrova sroLEcnos'r v 13mm, or Baum. CZECHO- snovaxm rmmernncnamsm FOBAUTOMATIC rmnaims a imation filed Julie 18, 1929, Serial 1%. 371,786,and in Czechoslovakia June 20, 192a.

This invention relates to firing mechanisms for automatic firearms andhas primarily for its object to provide ,a novel construction I ininoperative position of the trigger-mechanism.

In the accompanying drawing I have shown in the form of diagrammaticalrepresentations a few embodiments of my invention, Fig. 1 being aside-view partly in section, showing the firing mechanism after firingof the la's't" sh'ot, -Fig' 2 a view" similar to Fig. 1 showihgthe,firing mechanism after depressionof the feeding devic e ,Fig. 3 afurther view showing the dev ces-of Figs. 1 and 2 after'actuation of thefiring mechanism, Fig. 4 'a'view' showing especially the action oftherear elevation of the breech and Fig. 5 a view' showing especiallythe action of the front elevation of the breech. Fig. 6 shows my newfiring mechanism together with a specific'sa'fety device in inoperativeposition with omission of the breech. and Fig. 7 the firing mechanisnrin a position in which a double loc'kingsafety device comes'into action.Fig."8 shows the firing mechanism in position after being locked by saidsafety device, Fig.19is 'adetail View of said safety device. and'Fig.'1O a section according to line of- Fig.- -8 as seen from the lefttowards-the right- "Referringnow more particularly to the drawings,'thfiring mechanism according to my'invenfion provided in the well-knownmanner underneath the breech 1 of the automechanism proper consistsof'the hammer 3' mountedfswi'ngabl y around'the' pivot 7 and aetaatert:by the "spring- :8. The hammer 3,

more particularly, engages by means of the nose 3a thereon with theanchor-shaped trigger-lever 5 at aplace intermediate the two armsthereof, the nose 3a of the hammer 3 co-operating with the nose 5a ofthe triggerlever 5, as indicated in Fig. 1. The rear part of theanchor-shaped trigger-lever 5 is provided with an interrupter 6 in theform of a double-armed lever fulcrumed to the triggeras may be seen fromFigs. 1 to 5, there is provided a recess 10 which forms part of thecatch and control mechanism for the hammer 3. According to my inventionan elevation 1a is provided in front of said recess 10, said elevationpresenting at its front part an oblique guide surface 0 and at its rearpart a sliding surface p which forms a part of said recess 10. Theelevation 1a projects somewhat from the under edge of said recess 10. Infront of the oblique guide surface 0 there is provided a somewhat longerguide surface m which is of an inclination opposite to that of thesurface 0. In the rear of the recess la there is further provided aguide surface r which is downwardly inclined towards the rearand extendsalmost as far as to the rear end of the breech, in such a manner to forman elevation lb'near the rear end S of the breech.

The detail construction of the aforedescribed parts of the firingmechanism will be apparent from the hereinbelow description of the modeof operation of said mechanism. After the last shot has ben fired, thatis, in empty condition of the cartridgemagazine, the cartridge feedingdevice 2 will be pushed in front of the breech 1 which during firing hasbeen opened by the effect of the recoil. The cartridge feeding deviceQ-Will thus lock the breech 1 in open condition there- .of asrepresented in Fig. 1. The hammer 3 rests with its head upon the underpart of the sliding surface p of the front elevation" 1a on the breech1, the nose 3a of the hammer 3 freely engaging from below with the;

nose 5a on the trigger-lever 5. After the magazine has been loaded thecartridge feeding device 2 will be in depressed condition,

the breech 1, until the hammer 3 snaps into] the recess 10, this'causingthe breech to be locked in'open position as represented in Fig. 2. Inthis condition of the firing mechanism the noses 3a and 5a will be inengagement with each other. Upon pulling the'trigger 4 the trigger-lever5 will be rocked and the nose 5a thereon will pull the hammer 3 downuntil the head of the hammer comes out of engagement with the recess 10on the breech 1. Now the breech 1 is released and may further be movedforward by action of a spring causing a new cartridge to be pushed outof the magazine into the loading space.

Simultaneously therewith the nose 5a on the trigger-lever 5 will comeout of engagement with the nose 3a on the hammer 3 as in dicated in Fig.3. Upon continued forward motion of the breech 1 the oblique surface rwhich forms part of the rear elevation 16 on the breech will exert apressure on the hammer 3 and cause depression of the same until the nose3?) will come in engagement with the under end of the interrupteractuated by the spring 8. The interrupter 6 now will retain the hammer 3in this position so that the latter isprevented from moving into therear of the breech 1 which now commences its closing motion. Duringclosing of the breech, therefore, premature firing will be safelyprevented. In like manner there will be prevention against firing aseries of shots so that the fire-arm is in condition for'the automaticfiring of single shots. the trigger being continuously'pulled for thispurpose. When re'easing the trigger, the spring ,8 will rock thetrigger-lever 5 in clockwise sense, the spring 8 now acting upon thetrigger 4 and the trigger-lever 5 by the intermediary of the interrupter6 which rests with its upper part 11 upon the upper surface of therearwardly extending arm 10 of the triggerlever 5. The interrupter 6 nowis disengaged from the nose 3b of the hammer 3, thus catching up thehammer 3 when rearwardly swinging. A The hammer now will only swingslightly in counter-clockwise sense until the noses 3a and 5a will comeinto engagement with each other, while the front side of the hammer 3will rest upon the rear oblique surface S which forms part of theelevation 11) on the rear part of the breech 1, as shown in Fig. 2. Ifthe trigger has been pulled before the rear elevation lb of the breechhas come in position above the hammer, the elevation 16 will likewisedepress the hammer, 3, the nose 311 on the hammer, however, coming nowat once-into engagement from below with the nose 5a on the trigger-lever5, so that the interrupter 6 will be rocked against the action of thespring 8 without the right-hand nose 3b of the hammer 3 coming intoengagement with the under end of the interrupter 6. The

respective parts now will at once come into the position which they haveassumed after releasing the trigger. as above described.

By the aforede'scribed motions of the parts.

of the firing mechanismthe firstcartridge had been moved out of thefilled cartridge maga zine into the loading space. Apparently, in thiscase the trigger must be pulled twice in order to fire a new .shot. Moreparticularly when pulling thetrigger the first time, the hammer 3 whichengages with the recess 10 of the breech 1 will cause to'release thebreech to permit loading, While-pulling the trigger a second time willcause the firing of a shot by releasing the hammer 3 which is kept intenthe height of the surface m. Thereupon, however, the hammer 3 will'be quickly de-' pressed by action of the surface 0 which is of greaterobliquity, so that a heavy impact will be given to the hammer inclockwise sense. Thisimpact will be so efiective that the hammer willremain in retracted position for some short time which is suficient tocause the recess '10 to slide past the hammer without engagingtherewith. In this manner the hammer will be unable to lock the breechand come in sliding engagement with the oblique surface 1' of the rearelevation 1d. In order to securely attain this, the front elevation 1ais somewhat higher than the under edge of the recess 10. The hammer 3will be pressed backward by action of the elevation 11) into tensioned,locked position in the same man ner as has been above described. Morepar-- ticularly, the hammer 3 in pulled condition of the trigger will belocked by the interrupter 6 and in released condition of the trigger bythe nose 56 so that said hammer is prevented from following the motionof the breech which is now closing, thus preventing the firing ofsuccessive shots.

After complete closing of the breech, therefore, the trigger 4; must bepulled anew for each shot to be fired. Apparently, any desired number ofshots may now be fired'by merely pulling the trigger once for each shot.

As Figs. 6-10 show, the trigger mechanism is provided with a resistancemember co-operating) with the hammer 3, said resistance mem er cominginto action during operation of the trigger and before the hammer 3 isin released condition. This resistance member is provided on thetrigger-lever 5 as shown in Figs. 6-10 in form of the interrupter 6which is constructed to constitute a stop mounted resiliently yieldingupon the trigger-lever, said stop being at a distance 16 from the hammer3 in inoperative condition of the trigger mechanism. During the firstphase of motion of the several parts of the trigger mechanism all ofsaid parts must be moved to acertain extentin accordance with saiddistance 16, whereupon the resiliently yielding resistance 15 will comeinto action. It may be noted that the aforedescribed mode of controllingthe motion of the hammer by means of the breech will in no way beunfavorably affected by the provision of said resiliently yieldingresistance. Moreover, the aforedescribed interrupter which isconstructed to act as a resistance member will permit firing ofindividual shots by means of automatic fire-arms.

If the trigger mechanism, for instance, is in the condition as shown inFig. 6, a pulling of the trigger 4 will cause the interrupter 6 to movetogether with said resistance member or stop 15 in the direction towardsthe nose 3?) on the hammer 3, that is said resistance member will movethrough the distance 16. In this condition the several parts of thetrigger-mechanism may be Very easily operated. In the position shown inFig. 7, that is after the several parts of the trigger-mechauism havemoved through the distance 16, the resistance member or stop 15 engageswith the nose 3?) of the hammer 3. The re sistance member 15 will nowcome into action with the effect that intermediate the position of thehammer shown in Fig. 7 and the position in which the hammer is fullyreleased there will be required an increased force in order to operatethe several parts of the trigger-mechanism. This resistance which willcome automatically into action will indicate to the shooter that theseveral parts of the trigger-mechanism are positioned closely in frontof its condition of release. By this the shooter will be given thepossibility to take aim still more'carefully and thereupon fire the shotby exerting a short pull on the trigger. In the constructions shownherein the resistance within the firing mechanism is produced by theinterrupter 6, it is of course also possible to use a special resistancebody which is mounted resiliently yielding upon the trigger-lever 5.

The tri ger 4 is shown in Figs. 6 to 10 in a modi edconstruction whichforms part of this invention. According to Figs. 6 to 10 the trigger isprovided with a forwardly projecting arm 20, a safety or locking device21 being provided within the range of swinging motion of said arm 20.This safety'device according to Figs. 6 to 10 consists of a rotatablymounted bolt 21 which is provided with a recess or cut-away portion 22.The bolt 21 is further equipped with a handle 25 and a resilient pawl 26which co-operates with ratchets 27 and 28. The bolt 21, moreover, isprovided with a ring-shaped groove 30 adapted to come in engagement withthe trigger-lever 5, as indicated in Figs. 6, 7 and 8. In this mannerthe bolt 21 will be kept into its proper position and no abutment or thelike will be necessary to prevent displacementof. said bolt. ing thebolt in the aforedescribed manner will also permit an easy exchange ofsaid bolt, if this should be found necessary.

In the position of the bolt 21 shown in Figs. 6 and 7, that is in aposition of the handle 25 which causes engagement of the pawl 26 withthe ratchet 28, the trigger-mechanism will be in unlocked conditionready for firing. The trigger 4 may now be pulled, the recess 22permitting free motion of the arm 20. In order to lock thetrigger-mechanism, it will only be necessary to swing the handle 25 ofthe safety or locking device into the position shown in Fig. 9, thiscausing the pawl 26 to engage with the ratchet 27 which will keep thesafety device in operative condition. The bolt 21 moreover will providea'safety device adapted to lock the trigger .4 not only in its positionof restwhich position is shown in dash-dotted lines in Fig. 8- but alsoin operative position, that is after being pulled, as shown in fulllines in Fig. 8. For this purpose a stop 31 is used, said stop beingformed by the wall of the casing 33 which serves for the reception ofthe lock of the fire-arm. The stop 31, however, may also be constructedin the form of a special member which is fixed within the lock-casing33. The provision of a safety locking de vice for the trigger 4 will beespecially of importance for purposes of testing fire-arms as Well asfor purposes of repairs. In this locked or safety position of thetrigger, the cartridge magazine may be gradually emptied and thefire-arm rendered inoperative.

It may be noted that the aforedescribed safety device for the triggerwill in no way affect the mode of controlling the motion of the hammerby the motion of the breech. Also, when using said safety device, theaction of the interrupter 6 may fully be retained, that is the trigger,when locked in pulled condition, will permit the hammer 3 or the nose 3bthereon to be caught up and locked by said interrupter.

The herein described firing and trigger mechanisms are only examples ofthe construction according to my invention and various changes may bemade thereon without The mode of fixa departing from the principles ofmy invention or sacrificing any advantages thereof.

I claim: 1. A firing mechanism for automatic firearms having a breechwhich is retained 0 en condition by a device adapted to actuate t epriming bolt, said mechanism comprising control means associated withsaid breech, said control means being adapted to prevent retention ofsaid breech by said device during rapid closing motion of said breech.

2. A firing mechanism for automatic firearms having a breech which isretained in open condition by a hammer, said mechanism comprisingcontrol means associated with said breech, said control means beingadapted to prevent retentipn of said breech by said hammer during rapidclosing motion of said breech.

3. Mechanism as specified by claim 1 having the control means providedin the direction of closing motion of the breech infront of a.depression provided on said breech, said depression being adapted toreceive the device which serves for actuation of the priming bolt.

4. Mechanism as specified by claim 2 in which the control means consistsof two elevations, one provided in front and the other in the rear ofadepression on said breech, said elevation in front of said depressionbeingof a greater height than said elevation in the rear of saiddepression.

5. Mechanism as specified by claim 2 in which the control means consistsof two elevations, one provided in front and the other to ress thehammer of the fire-arm back into sa etwosition.

7. echanism as specified by claim 2, said mechanism comprising adouble-armed triggar-lever, catches provided in opposition to each otheron both arms of said lever, the hammer. being provided with nosesadapted to co-opernte with said catches to permit looking of saidhammer, when depressed by the control means on the breech, in operativeas well as in inoperative condition of said mechanism.

8. echanism as specified by claim 2, said mechanism comprising a triggerprovided.

with an arm, and a safety-device arranged within the range of motion ofsaid arm, said safety device being adapted to lock said trigger 1noperative as well as in inoperative condition. y

9. Mechanism as specified by claim 2, said "to come into efiect iiyrsaese mechanism comprising a trigger provided .with-an', armgiand' asafety device arranged within the range of motion of said arm, saidsafety. device consisting of a movably mounted 'bolt having a cut-awayportion permitting swinging motion of said trigger.

10. Mechanism as specified by claim 2 said mechanism; comprising atrigger provided with an arm, and a safety device arranged within therange of motion of said arm, said safety device being adapted to locksaid trigger inoperative as well as in inoperative condition, a stopprovided within the range of swinging motion of said arm, said stopadapted to lock said trigger in conjunction with said safety device.

11. Mechanism as specified by claim 2, said mechanism comprising atrigger provided with an arm, and a safety device arranged within therange of motion of said-arm, said safety device being adapted to locksaid trigger in operative as well as in inoperative cond1t1on, and astop provided within the range of swinging motion of said arm, said stopbeing formed 'by a part of the wall of the lock-casing of the fire-armand adapted to lock said trigger in conjunction with said safety device.i

12. Mechanism as specified by claim 2, said mechanism comprising atrigger-lever, a resistance body mounted on said trigger-lever andadapted to co-operate with the hammer said trigger-lever prior toreleasing. said hammer, an interrupter associated with saidtrigger-lever, said hammer and said triggerlever being adapted toco-operate, in independence from the breech and said interrupter.

13. Mechanism as specified by claim 2, said mechanism comprising atrigger-lever, a stop operative position of resiliently mounted on saidtrigger-lever at some distance from the hammer andiadapted to co-operatetherewith, an interrupter associated with said stop, said hammer andsaid trigger-lever being adapted to co-oper ate with each other inindependence from the breech and said interrupter.

l4. Mechanism as specified by claim 2, said mechanism comprising atrigger-lever, a stop reslliently mounted on said trigger-lever at somedistance from the hammer and adapted to co-operate therewith, saidhammer and said trigger-lever being adapted to c'o-operate with eachother in independence from the breech and said stop.

In testimony whereo I afiix my signature.

' EMANUEL HOLEK,

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